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Pakistan Claims More Gains Against Taliban

Pakistani soldiers were photographed during a government-led tour of the Swat Valley in northwest Pakistan on Friday.Credit
Pedro Ugarte/European Pressphoto Agency

KHAWAZAKHELA, Pakistan — A top Pakistani general said Friday that the military had succeeded in clearing two militant strongholds in upper parts of the contested Swat Valley, including this city, and was just a week away from taking over a third.

“Essentially, at this point in time, we are looking at eliminating the hard-core militants,” Maj. Gen. Sajjad Ghani, the commanding officer of the military operation in the upper part of Swat, said in a briefing for journalists here. Khawazakhela is one of the largest cities in Swat, with a population estimated at more than 500,000.

It has been difficult to verify the accounts of the Pakistani military, since roads leading to the heart of the fighting have been blocked. On Friday, the military allowed a small group of journalists limited access to the area.

Rahimullah Shaheen, a local journalist, sounded a note of caution, saying that the Taliban who had been forced out of Khawazakhela had simply retreated into the nearby mountains, just a few miles from the city. One local commander, Shah Doran, still broadcasts on an FM frequency that can be heard in the valley between 9 and 11 p.m.

General Ghani, who has been in the area for the past year and a half, said the military had cleared militants from Matta and Bini Baba Ziarart and was closing in on another stronghold in Piachar, in the upper Swat Valley.

“The commandos have already landed on the mountain peaks and ridges” around Peochar, he said. “The militants are surrounded and encircled from all sides.” General Ghani said residents could begin to return to Khawazakhela and Matta in 15 days.

Photo

A general said Khawazakhela had been cleared of militants.Credit
The New York Times

On Friday, the city of Khawazakhela, like other towns and villages throughout the Swat Valley, looked more like a ghost town, as seen from a helicopter. Long roads winding through green fields were deserted. Dozens of cargo trucks were parked in the center of town, while smoke billowed from what seemed to be a filling station. Very few people could be seen.

General Ghani said that local people in the neighboring northern area of Kalam had taken up arms against the Taliban.

While the military is gunning for the militant leadership, recruits who desert the Taliban ranks will be allowed to rejoin mainstream society, he said.

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In Khawazakhela, Pakistani soldiers in camouflage fatigues stood guard outside the walls of a girls’ college the army is using as a base.

“The Taliban would have blown it up had we not established our base here,” said Lt. Col. Abdul Rehman, one of the officers. The Taliban have made targets of girls’ schools and banned education for girls and women.

Colonel Rehman said that 31 soldiers in his unit had been killed, but that its morale remained high.

As helicopters flew in and out of the base, a group of young officers said they had no moral qualms about fighting the Taliban, most of who are fellow Pakistanis. “They are not Muslims, despite their claims to be so,” said Lt. Asad Hanif. “A true Muslim cannot slaughter people like the Taliban have been doing.”

Officers said the Taliban were recruiting young men from the area through intimidation and coercion, and raising money through extortion. While most of the Taliban militants were from the area, the officers said that some foreigners, most of them from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, had also joined in the fighting.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: Pakistan Army Claims More Gains Against Taliban in Swat Valley. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe